 Whether you're a fan of the Ravens or not whether you're a fan of Lamar Jackson or not You know that he is one of the most talked about QB's Whether for good or whether for bad in the NFL And we have discussed plenty of times on here that Lamar Jackson is also one of the most criticized QB's that I've ever seen and the amount of criticism that he gets It is it's wild, but me as a Ravens fan ever since he first stepped on a scene I told people that this is just it's always how it's gonna be It's always how it's gonna be no matter how good he does no matter how successful he is Or even no matter how bad he does if he messes up in something, too It's it's always gonna be like this. So I told Ravens fans back then get used to it So with that being said one thing that gets talked about with Lamar Jackson a lot is His ability which he has a lot of in a lot of different areas But one ability that sets him apart from a lot of other quarterbacks is his running ability and With that running ability it just makes him that much more special And with the running ability obviously last year that was a big part of why he won the MVP It played a vital role in the Ravens offense it played a vital role in just the success of the Ravens team and It allowed them to literally revolutionize the game like the head coach John Harbaugh said they would so One thing that it also allowed to happen was a lot of analysts a lot of critics a lot of experts to say Lamar Jackson runs too much He needs to slow down. He's not gonna last. He can't last his career won't be long if he keeps running so much And we heard it over and over and over But again for Ravens fans, I mean for really just football fans period This was nothing new. This was not a shocker. This was not a surprise This was not anything that caught anybody off-guard Especially if you heard anything about Lamar Jackson from his rookie season Because in his rookie season, he was one of the top rushers in just the nine games that he played But this year his MVP season he ran the ball 176 times 176 times and Says only 22 running backs in the NFL had more carries than that only 22 running backs Had more carries than Lamar Jackson did and we know they're 32 NFL teams and We know everyone has at least two running backs But out of those 32 teams only 22 running backs ran more times than Lamar Jackson Who's a quarterback did and that was very interesting, but really quick before we get into this Runs From a quarterback. They are different than runs from a running back and what I mean when I say that is exactly what I said And I mean it Quarterback runs are not always the same as running back runs. Now Lamar drops back Whether it's a design run and he takes off or whether he's scrambling around nobody comes open and he's like, you know what? I'm out Those are both runs But something that a quarterback does that counts as a rush But a running back doesn't do is Kneel the ball when quarterbacks kneel the ball That counts as a rush So that is one thing that I definitely noticed once Lamar came on a scene in his rookie year That a lot of these analysts one of the first things they said, oh man, he's running the ball too much He's not gonna last He runs the ball way too much he won't have a long career if he keeps that up and That that his numbers as a rusher as a runner They can get a little bit over exaggerated just a little bit Because those kneel downs are counted as rushes Another thing that he does And it is technically a rush because running backs can do it too, but him as a quarterback He would do a little bit more Are the runs that he runs and slides Where he slides down or dives down Before he gets hit They're also the runs that where he goes out of bounds this there's all kind of runs But we know that he runs a lot, but we also know that He doesn't really take many hits and that's another one of the narratives that get pushed. We already know that So he runs so much he takes so many hits. Oh Man Lamar Jackson's always getting hit But when you think about it again if you watch the Ravens games This he would hardly ever be getting hit You'd hardly ever begin hit and last year. I think I think you may be actually you may be able to actually count on one hand The number of times we got straight up hit me like it not tackled not tackled. I mean hit Think it happened in the Jets game. I Think it I think it happened in the Rams game And I off the top of my head I can't remember any other games in that but I think you can count on one hand the number of times just do got popped So it's not like he's out there taking so many hits But Lamar did talk about during this offseason and it's been sort of a extra long offseason Of course with everything going on and I hope all the y'all doing all right. I hope y'all are doing good But he said that he does envision running less Then he did last year and initially when you think about it, you could it you could expect that And again, that's whether you're Ravens fan or not, but I think that would be an expectation Think Lamar run for a thousand yards again this year two years straight Maybe not But let's see what he said he said I doubt if I'm going to be carrying the ball a lot going on in the future We've got dynamic running backs. We're going to have even more receivers. We've got Hollywood Mark Andrews Nick Boyle Willie Snead Miles Boykin. We're gonna be pretty good. I don't think I'll be running a lot And he said if anything, I just want to grow I just want my mind to grow even more just learning the ins and outs of the game even more Tom Brady stuff That's all I want to do right now focus more. So something that I've said throughout last season During this offseason is that I do expect Lamar Jackson to take another step forward as a passer and that is just to Get the wide receivers involved a lot more I just expect this Ravens offense as a whole to take another step forward in the passing game Because obviously last year, I mean you you're not an MVP for nothing He's not an MVP running back. You know MVP defensive player. You ain't no MVP wide receiver. No, this dude was MVP quarterback led the league and touchdown passes So you don't you don't leave the league and touchdown passes if you can't throw the ball you don't do that You just I mean and I know some people want to they look for any little thing and say, oh, well He didn't do this. He didn't do that. He led the league and touchdown passes Does he still have some more work some some more stuff he can improve on? Oh, yeah All day for sure But you can't take that away from this dude led the league and when you think about it He led the league and touchdown passes And he missed two games and one quarters worth of time He missed eight quarters eight quarters This guy missed eight. No, sorry. No, no nine quarters nine quarters. Excuse me Because he missed week 17 and Then he sat out five quarters. So he missed nine quarters of football 15 minutes tight. Well, maybe he came out early on one of those fourth quarters But he missed nine quarters worth of football That's crazy. And if I can think of the games off the top of my head he um The Texans game the obviously the whole Steelers game, but the Texans game The rims game did he come out of that one? I think the Dolphins game The Jets game And I can't think of the other one. I know y'all remember though because y'all memories are way better than mine But that says a lot That that says a whole lot If your quarterback still leaves the league and touchdown passes, but he came through and he didn't play for nine quarters worth of time Oh boy, but anyway Back to him saying that he's he thinks he's gonna be running a lot less this year I can understand that because he even expects him himself to take another step forward In the passing game and that's understandable, of course But the one thing that I was thinking about with him saying that he expects to run less this year That's fine. That's cool. Whatever But one thing that and I said this from the jump For when he first stepped foot on that Ravens football field And even throughout especially Before this past season started because throughout the entire off-season last year All we heard was Lamar can't do this. He can't do that. He's not this. He's not that. He's That's all we heard all off-season all off-season and then when he would prove people wrong during the season That that that goalpost will continue to shift as we all know again like I told y'all This is how it's gonna be So there's no sense in getting mad over There's no sense in getting upset with people when they say this and they say that like even the other day Dan or Vlasky, I forgot how to say his last name the former Lions quarterback who He got a safety in his own end zone because he ran out of bounds quarterback He caused the safety because he ran out of bounds, but he um He came up with this top five list Where he said the the top five Qbs that that recently got drafted or something like that and He put to a Joe Burrow Sam Donald and there was one more he put off all three of those guys over Lamar Jackson But there was one more that he put over. Oh, I think it was Baker Mayfield I think but he put those four guys. He said those four guys are better than Lamar For that I got no problem with that. I People got their own opinions. That's fine. It was like what's the sense of getting mad over somebody's opinion? Who cares? But where where I Thought he sounded a little it just didn't make any sense Was when he said that Lamar is a certain type of quarterback So the Ravens they have to draft certain type of players to fit that quarterback so that limits them and When he said that I was like, hold on how That's isn't that what teams are supposed to do if they're invested in their quarterback Wouldn't you want to get players that match that quarterback skill set? Isn't that what teams do when they invest in a position for for teams they have certain schemes that they run Every player is not a good fit for your scheme That's why some players you try to sign some you don't some players you try to draft some you don't why? Because every player is not a good fit for what you and your team do So when he said that the Ravens were limited By the start that by the type of players that that they would have to draft to fit Lamar Jackson skill set That's the only thing I was like How does that make any sense? But anyway With Lamar Jackson, um, he is going to continue to be Criticized really overly criticized his entire career It's not gonna be fair blah blah blah. It is what it is Don't get mad over it But one thing with him and like I was saying before I said this this past off season Not the off season that we in now, which probably seems really long But this past off season before last season because obviously he was getting talked about so much old man Well, now now we got nine games with film on him now. He's really not gonna be able to do anything teams are gonna figure him out The ra ra all that I I did not want him to go by that outside noise and change his game. That is the one thing I do not want him to do and did not want him to do. And I said that last offseason, don't change your game. Don't change your game because people are talking all this noise. Don't change your game because they saying you can't do this and you can't do that. Don't change your game because they saying this is going to happen and that's going to happen. Don't change your game. Don't change it. And even with him saying that he's going to run less, it doesn't mean that, oh, everything's out the window. Oh, now he ain't going to run at all. No, it doesn't mean that. It doesn't even necessarily mean that he'll run less. It doesn't even mean that. He could just be saying that sort of cool people off. And I mean him being a quarterback, I wouldn't expect him to say, oh, yeah, I'm probably going to run even more this year. He should have said that. That would be funny. That would really get the internet going because you know, anything that Lamar does, anything good or bad, anything that he does will get the internet buzzing quick, quick. It's one of the craziest things. Anything this guy does. But I wish he would have said that. You know what? I plan on running even more this year. Oh, man, so many people would have got so mad. So he could have did some nice little trolling there, man. But with him saying that he's going to run less, I just, I just want his game to stay the same, man. I just want his game to stay the same. And you know, if you're still here, this part of video, just put in the comment section, man. Don't change Lamar. Don't change Lamar. Don't change your game, Lamar. Don't change your game. Just put in the comment section. You can put your own little spin on it too if you want to. I always appreciate when y'all do that, put your own little spin on something. But and I love y'all, man. I love y'all so much and I appreciate y'all. But I just want him to continue to play his game. Do what got you here. Do what makes you special. Do what makes you stand out. Don't try to be like they say you should be. Don't try to be how they say they want you to be. Don't try to be traditional. Do your thing. Continue to do your thing. Do what got you here. Okay. He said he's going to run less. Okay. We'll see what happens. If he does, cool. If he doesn't, cool. But don't change your game because of what all the naysayers are saying. Don't change your game because of the media. Don't change your game because of these analysts. Don't change your game because of these experts. Don't change your game because ESPN ain't got nothing better to talk about. Don't change your game because NFL Network don't have any stories to run. Don't change your game for none of that and for none of them. Team Keep It Clean, I appreciate y'all. I love y'all and I'm out.